What's the worst thing to happen to gaming?

[Fallingwater]

There are many bad things going on: too much emphasis on graphics, costs of making games going up, anti-honest-buyer protection (I refuse to call them "anti-piracy"), and more. However, the single worst thing that's happening right now is the craze about casual gaming, which is dragging the standard for what is a good videogame lower and lower.
Oh, casual gaming, how I loathe thee.

Edit: special mention for the removal of cheats. What's up with that? Why do game makers suddenly feel cheats are bad?

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

Poorly thought out in game ads. I don't mind product placement if it's done tastefully. A Coke Can on the table or a character listening to an iPod or something. Sandbox games with billboards that change and advertise real films. These kinds of things can lend an air of realism to the game.

But throwing in these out of place banner ads for BF1943 right in the middle of the screen when I'm playing Fight Night is obsurd. Giant billboards for "Tiger Woods Golf" EVERYWHERE in Burnout 3. It takes away from the game when it's not handled well and it should really be kept in check.

 

[Deleric]

Motion control and innovation being substituted in for fun and creativity.

 

[Adair_the_Skull]

I think bringing gaming to a league play and exposing it has seemed to bring gaming on the whole down. The more mainstream gaming seems to get the less creative it gets as well. It is like the movie industry. When starved for creativity we got movies like, Meet the Spartans, Date movie, Epic movie, Scary movie.. ect, ect. There are lots of stupid people in the world, and the bigger your industry the more likely you are to have stupid people who believe they are talented "driving" your industry.

 

[Terramax]

Almost nobody buying the Dreamcast.

Not just the worse thing in gaming history, but one of the biggest crimes against humanity.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Jack Thompson and Uwe Bol.

 

[Durxom]

Definately casual gamers horning in on actual gamers lifestyle.

AND IT'S ALL NINTENDO'S FAULT!!

uhh..I'm sorry but you're two generations behind, the casual gamers all came in when the first Playstation came out, bringing in all the jocks, and all those other people(who now think they are hardcore) from the real gamers at the time which were kids, and nerds/geeks, or whatever

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

All non-gamers attempting to give a valid opinion on the subject.

 

[Shycte]

Deadlines

Because that's what killed Duke Nukem, RROD the Xbox, milked those franchises, threw out non-sequel games, caused patches to come in, caused every tie-in to spill pixellated shit through it's cracked empty shell and generally makes everyone chase the money instead of chasing the game.

Thank god for people like Tim Schafer, David Braben and Ian Bell [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_%28video_game%29], Lucasarts Smart and Interesting Games Division, Bioware and the true heroes of the gaming world.

Next: Mario-troid 3: The Revenge of Cyber-Bowser. Copy/Pasta that you'll still pay for.

Couldn't agree more! Seeing that you are The Time Lord shouldn't you be able to go back in time and tell Microsoft to work harder on the Xbox360 hardware

 

[vonwenck]

i would say game companys re-releasing the same title over and over again, i mean if it a good game i guess it alright but i mean new concepts should always be pumpin out and also pro gaming

 

[The_ModeRazor]

EA Games. Their very purpose is to reduce gaming to a smoldering heap of rubble.

 

[Littaly]

Most recently... the notion that there is something called "hardcore gamers" and that they are better than everyone else. Combined with the general opinion that a game cannot be good unless it's "hardcore" and everything that is "hardcore" is good by standard.

Though I'm guessing in a couple of years I'm going to answer "micro transactions". Seriously EA I was beginning to think you had turned a new leaf. I don't blame companies for wanting to make money but but there is something fundamentally wrong when you charge get away with releasing an incomplete game at full price and letting you buy back the missing pieces at a much higher price than they are actually worth.

 

[BonerMacTittyPants]

Casual gamers, fanboys, EA, DRM and everything with the word "sims" in it, minus the first The Sims.

 

[Samuel Cook]

Peter Molyneuxs' habit of making his games sound absolutely amazing while they're in production, then you're really disappointed when you play them. He never actually lies, but he exaggerates loads. Fable 2 was an alright game, but no where near what I had anticipated.

 

[Christemo]

Warhammer Online

OK, I'm gonna have to ask for clarification on this one. How is Warhammer Online the worst thing to happen to gaming? I know the game isn't that great (heck, it's not even good), but worst thing ever?

ok, i was probably exagerating a bit, but its really fucking bad to me. i was excited as fuck for this game, and after 4 years of developement, they deliver shite to the front door. but the arsiest of this arse is how it slandered warhammer and made VERY important lore characters killable.

 

[Gyrefalcon]

The terms 'casual' and 'hardcore' being introduced.

Self-proclaimed "elite gamers" have always kinda annoyed me ¬_¬' I guess you could say it ties in with my disgust at being tagged a "hardcore gamer"

As if gamers can afford to be split into niche groups! Look at the portrayal of gamers still on television and by comedians. We need to embrace anyone coming over to gaming not look down upon them. And I somehow doubt there is a "hard-core" gamer that didn't start out with some form of "casual" or "kiddie" game. And the early games were considered difficult in their day but would be called "casual" now. Centipede, Asteroids, Combat, Space Invaders, were all arcade games which were then brought over to the console and they were fun and challenging. It isn't fair or right to dismiss them or gamers who don't have hours to spend on a game due to real life concerns but still need to relax and unwind.

We should remember that no matter how "hard core" the game, it's roots lie in Pong.

 

[gerrymander61]

Console gaming. Every (potentially) good game now has to be dumbed down to a level where it can be played with so few buttons. There are tons of examples of this but the one that really irked me was Thief 3.

Oh, and Halo was a good game. Those of you who claim that it's the worst thing to happen to gaming should stop sucking off Yahtzee and actually give the game a shot.

 

[mad benji89]

Cheetos. Making everything dusty and orange and slippery. Curse them.

hey its not easy being cheesey lol

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Couldn't agree more! Seeing that you are The Time Lord shouldn't you be able to go back in time and tell Microsoft to work harder on the Xbox360 hardware

Well, I would do,

Spoiler: but you see that's half the problem.